Round 3: Jacobson (63) Leads By 1; Cantlay Falls To 10th

Jacobson followed his second round of 4-under-par 66 with a third-round 63 to take a one-shot lead at 16-under 194 at TPC River Highlands.

Bryce Molder finished his morning round at 66 and came back with a 64 to move into second. James Driscoll is another two strokes back in third after a 64.

Second-round leader amateur Patrick Cantlay (72) bogeyed his last two holes to fall into a tie for 10th at 199. Cantlay, Molder, Driscoll and the other 70 players will be chasing Jacobson on Sunday.

Jacobson, who is winless in 187 tour starts, and Molder, winless in 123, will go out as the last twosome at 2 p.m. Molder has played in the last group in final rounds four times. The only time Jacobson, 36, has played in the last group was the 2004 Honda Classic, where he tied for fourth.

"That's the position [final group] where I want to be, and that's what I've practiced for, and that's what I strive for," Jacobson said. "It's great to have an outside shot at things and come from three shots back or four shots back where you're always kind of looking for that miracle round to make things happen."

Saturday began early, with the completion of the second round starting at 7 a.m. Jacobson played his last 11 holes and Molder his last 10 in 2 under.

Seventy-four players made the cut at 4-under 136, the lowest in tournament history and on the PGA Tour this year. Jim Renner (63-74) became the tour's first outright leader after the first round this year not to make the cut.

In the afternoon under sunny skies - a welcome relief to players and the estimated crowd of 60,000 after the rain that delayed the tournament the first two rounds - Cantlay missed a 2-foot, 2-inch putt for par at the par-4 second. It looked as if he was poised to make a run with birdies at Nos. 9 and 11.

But bogeys at Nos. 13, 17 (after a drive in the pond) and 18 dropped him off the first page of the leaderboard. "I got off to kind of a slow start and really never got any momentum going," Cantlay said. "I hit a couple of bad drives coming in."

Driscoll, a Boston native who attended Taft-Watertown, had a loyal following who saw him finish with a short birdie putt at 18. "I've had a few family members down, a couple of friends out there, so it's always fun when you can do it in front of some people you know," he said.

Though Molder, a native of Harrison, Ark., and Jacobson (Sweden) didn't have the same type of support, they enjoyed their third rounds.

Molder, whose best finish this year was a tie for sixth at the AT&T Pebble Beach National, had one bogey (No. 3) and six birdies to keep Jacobson within sight.

Molder's best putt was from 37 feet, 9 inches at No. 17. It broke about 6 feet, then rolled true into the cup. That tied him with Jacobson at 15 under. "From that distance and that much break, and downhill, you're just trying to get it close," said Molder, 32. "And what do you know? The hole gets in the way."

Jacobson, the only player in the field without a bogey, has a positive outlook after finishing tied for 14th in the U.S. Open last Sunday. "I've been hitting the ball as well as I ever have," he said.

At TPC River Highlands Saturday, Jacobson, who hit all 14 fairways, posted three birdies on each nine.

His most memorable putt was actually from the close-cut fairway around the 10th green. The ball traveled 12 feet before it touched the green. "That was certainly one of those momentum-busters, as I felt that one hits the hole [from 22 feet, 11 inches] rather than standing there with maybe a 6-footer coming back or something," he said. "That was a good break."

Jacobson is first in putts gained on the field (8.6) and second in total putts (77).

Molder was No. 4 in putts (26.7) in the third round. A revised positive, aggressive mind-set has helped his performance in Cromwell. "There's different ways to be aggressive," he said. "And I love the way that Rory talked about it [at the U.S. Open]. It's funny, we can just use him by his first name now, huh? Or is it Mr. McIlroy? ... But he talked about how it might not necessarily be aggressive at the flag or aggressive decision-making, but aggressive swings to a specific target."

The target Sunday is the Travelers Championship trophy. The field will have to chase down Jacobson to capture it.

"I won a few times in Europe and I came over [in 2003] because I wanted to see if I can win here," he said. "That's always been my goal. That's the drive for me."